Desperate times
by LordRevan671
Summary: It was another freezing cold night in another freezing cold winter. My name is Sparrow (8) i live in the delapidated slumes of bowerstone old town with my sister Rose (12) as our parents dissapeared years ago not that i remember them.
1. prolouge

**Desperate times.**

prologue:

It was another freezing cold night in another freezing cold winter. My name is Sparrow (8) i live in the delapidated slumes of bowerstone old town with my sister Rose (12) as our parents dissapeared years ago not that i remember them. So it was just us and our falling apart shack in one of the back alleys of the old town i desperatly wanted to escape this life but whatever idea i came up with my annoying sister would always shoot it down.

Always saying my ideas weren't moral ones like stealing even though i was a fairly good pickpocket not that i could practice much since she rarely let me out of her sight. So i usually stole from rose when trailing behind her for the little scraps of food she had on her it's not like i feel bad for it i haven't eaten in two days and haven't had proper water in about a week as i've been drinking melted snow . I mean who cares if it's moral or not it's not like i have options im a realist i will do what it takes to survive which is why for the past year i've been trying to escape from my sister but it's not as easy as you would think.

For one she is a very light sleeper every time i try to sneak away while she's sleeping she always wakes up weather it's the creaky floorboards or the sound of me jumping over the steps she always wakes up. So my best option is to sneak away during the day which im going to try yet again tommoro morning hopefully i will be able to escape but where to there are only two options really i can eather go to bowerstone market and steal from the shops there. Or i could head to the graveyard since i doubt Rose will look for me there because she thinks i'm scared of the graveyard which i'm not. So out of the two options i'll try to head to the market but how i ditch Rose is another matter altogether...


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

So here we are another cold morning and hopefully the day i finally escape from my sister Rose all i need to do is wait for an opportunity. I was soo deep in thought of how i would achieve this i didn't even realise Rose was talking to me "oh look little sparrow, Castle Fairfax looks so beautiful in the snow" said Rose wistfully. I rolled my eyes when she turned back to the castle same old Rose i thought still day dreaming about the castle just then i heard some cheering and applause coming from the center of old town so me and Rose went to see what was going on.

On the way there we ran into Arfur not the best looking guy, with his worn clothes and old top hat but i liked Arfur for one my sister hated him. Another what I liked about Arthur was that he was willing to take us off the streets if my sister agreed to shag him. Of course, she would never do that she's just stuck-up like that i guess. "Hello young Rose" said Arthur "Have you reconsidered my offer" She'd refused again, of course my sister was so dumb sometimes. Arfur was willing to settle for oral He'd mentioned it to us once, but she was apparently disgusted by the thought and ran off leaving me with Arfur "hey Arfur" i said he looked down at me and smiled showing a few missing teeth "alright young Sparrow" he replied. "Well as much as i can be u know, say do you have another piece of cheese" i asked "alright" he said as he held out a small piece of cheese which i munched down as quickly as i could "thanks, well id better get going before Rose comes after me see ya later" i said as i dashed off.

When i got to where all the commotion i saw it was just a trader i went over to stand by Rose who hadn't noticed i was delayed talking to Arfur. From what i gathered he was selling supposed magicical items and oddity's, nonsense i thought but half listened anyway. "Consider this, this is truly a magical mirror, for as long as you look into it it will make you beautiful". " i'll take it " some idiot said, if it really worked then this trader would took much better i thought with a smile. As i let my mind wander for a bit only partially listening as he then went on about a music box. " You really think it could be magic" i heard Rose say snapping me out of my thoughts from what i could gather she was talking to an old woman who convinced her that the music box the merchant was showing off was real. How stupid did she think we were well Rose maybe but not me, "okay we will get 5 gold pieces" i heard Rose say to the old woman as she walked away, That's when she turned to me. She actually expected me to help her gather five gold coins so we could purchase that trinket. I decided to go along with it, though. Five gold coins were five gold coins. I'll just steal them from her later and then run off on my own at the thought i grinned inside.

As we started our hunt for the 5 gold pieces first we saw a man called Monty who was trying to elope with some girl but her mother had put a stop to that real quick. He gave me a letter to give to the daughter but told me not to give it to her mother so we knocked on the door after awhile the mother opened the door and looked her nose down at us and asked what we wanted. Rose came up with a lie saying we had a letter and needed 1 gold piece for postage and she brought it however as it was my decision i wated for the gold piece and gave it to the mother instead. After reading the letter she came to the conclusion that Monty was using her daughter to get to her so she went outside and told him she accept's his proposal Monty didn't know what to say and just went along with it even after the daughter overheard and started crying. I internally giggled at his face at the thought of having to marry this woman, well i thought i haven't had a good life now have i yet i'll be making the best of things soon enough .

Next Rose led me over to the guard Derek who had stupidly lost his arrest warrant's and wanted us to retrieve them well a gold piece is a gold piece i thought. Next some guy offered us a gold piece to strike a pose for some sort of magical photo-box or something so we got up on the stage and were told to strike a pose so i pulled out my toy gun and pointed it right at the man, and the a bright flash then we were done with that. He then said something about the picture develifying in 3 months or something or other. Anyhow know we had 2 gold pieces which Rose put in the pouch on her belt i took a moment to think of how i would get the gold from it my pickpocketing skills were the obvious choice but it would be a bit tricky to pull off even for me. Then it came to me the strings holding the bottom of the pouch together if i could cut them with something sharp the gold pieces will fall out of the pouch i would just have to find something to cut them with, but i'll wait until we have all 5 gold pieces, well we better get going more gold pieces to get.

As we walked through the alleyway we heard some little kids who were rushing off for something when we got there we saw a boy with a toy sword about to strike a cowering dog in the corner. Well i thought life is cruel and wasn't about to get involved but then Rose went over and had to be all heroic, "Leave him alone" said Rose. But this guy was a lunatic and headbutted Rose knocking her out, that earned him a point in my good books. The kids were saying how he'd hit a girl and that made the guy mad he started chasing after the little boys with his wooden sword but they were two fast so he gave up after awhile. It made me roll on the ground in laughter i flashed the guy a smile as he walked past, He grinned back It was kind of creepy really he was butt-ugly. It took a while, but Rose eventually came to and thanked me thinking that i had fought the guy off or something shrugging my shoulders at the comment. Rose then went to check on the dog after she quickly earned it's trust she said how we couldn't keep him as we didn't have enough food for ourselves and apologised for it and we walked off i was stunned did Rose just make a good decision i guess everyone has there day. In the alleyway i found two of the arrest warrant's one was about a Ronnie "Rhymes with" Parsonist and the other was about a Allan "Alliteration" Altamont. Both of which were wanted for funny and stupid things, shacking my head in mirth me and Rose walked out of the alleyway.

Upon exiting the alleyway and turning left there were two peolpe arguing. It turnes out they are married and he likes to drink and have a good time while she like my sister is a complete buzzkill and always need to try and do what is right and moral. So anyway the guy who's called Pete askes us to find his bottle for him and points us over to this guy called Magpie who his wife Betty gave the wine to. After stealthily getting the bottle of wine we headed back over to them both trying to convince me to give it to them, so i gave the wine to Pete i mean why not it's his money and his life who am i to spoil his fun i'm not Rose after all. As we were about to leave Pete hands me a warrant about a Nicky "The Nickname" Chalmers. He then hand's me a gold piece which Rose took before i could oh well i thought i'll get all of the gold pieces before long. As we went to leave to my left by the stairs leading to the graveyard and rookridge i noticed another warrant so i picked it up and read the name Andrew "The Stammer" M-M-Miller. After giving it a quick glance over i pocketed the 4th warrant and we were off again heading over to Baltazar who runs the warehouse.

It turnes out that some beetles got into the warehouse so he asked us to go inside and break there hateful little heads as he put it and offered us a gold piece. I said i would do it so i went inside and withdrew my toy gun and started to move upstairs. But then i heard Arfur call me over to the window so i walked over to him, " hey young Sparrow, listen Baltazar owes some protection money to Nicky the Nickname, forget the beetles and smash up his stock instead" he asked. I pretended to think about it for a couple of seconds well Baltazar should know better to not pay your debts, "well ok if you make it worth my while" i smiled innocently Arfur gave a chuckle at that " i knew why i liked you young Sparrow ok smash up those 5 barrels over there and leave the beetles alone and i'll give you a gold piece" he said "deal" i replied and put my toy gun away and drew my toy sword. As i finished smashing the last barrel i saw someting shine as i looked to see what it was a steel knife i picked it up to examined it it was very fine and sharp then i thought this would be perfect for stealing the gold pieces from Rose and running away all i need know is a distraction, i sheathed the knife and put in my pocket. I walked back over to Arfur he handed me the gold piece and thanked me for a job well done pocketing the gold piece so Rose woulden't see i turned to leave the warehouse.

As i exited the warehouse i told Baltazar that the beetles were dead he beleved me and handed the gold piece to Rose who pocketed it and we were off again. As we were about to head through the alleyway again i heard a dog bark i looked to my right and saw the mutt from earlier. Rose dashed over to him to check on him and i noticed that Rose was oblivious to what i was doing going behind her i withdrew the knife i picked up and got to work, my left hand ready to catch the 4 gold pieces my right holding the knife i quickly cut the the strings holding the bottom of the pouch together and then the gold pieces fell into my waiting hand. Clenching my hand over the pieces and resheathed the knife and put it back in my pocket the i heard a **SMASH.** Quickly putting my hands behind my back just in time as Rose looked back only to roll her eyes i also looked back as well it was just Pete who had just finished his wine and threw the empty bottle at a wall. Rolling my eyes as well i turned back to Rose who had returned her attention to the dog i quickly put the 4 gold pieces into my pocket thereby giving me 5 pieces i couldn't stop the grin that came over me at that moment.

As we were on the move again Rose handed me the last warrant saying that the dog had it, ok i thought glancing at the warrant it said Leroy "Unremarkable" Stone who was wanted for unremarkable behaviour shrugging my shoulders i pocketed the warrant. As we were walking i had time to think i now had all of the gold pieces i could now ditch Rose and finially go off on my own. I began to think of a plan, first we would head back to the guard and hand over the warrant's where i would take the gold piece then question Rose if we had enouth gold to which she would discover the ripped pouch and then i would convince her that we should go back through the alleyway's to find the missing gold pieces. When we get to the alleyway i would look for a place to hide where i would wait until dark so i could sneak down to the market to escape what i do then i'll decide upon when i get there. As we reached the end of the alleyway a shadowy figure emerged from the entrance right in our path...


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

As the shadowy figure got closer the light illuminating his face to reveal Arfur, " stop right there younglings those arrest warrant's you've got i want them". After some back and forth between Arfur and Rose it was my decison and obviously i chose to give them to Arfur he smiled and handed me the gold piece which i pocketed. Arfur then bid me good buy and walked away i turned to Rose and said " so sis how many gold pieces do we have now" i asked innocently while smiling she smiled back and reached for her pouch and to her horror found it broken with the bottom hanging down and the gold pieces missing. Her eye's widened " oh nooo the gold, the strings holding the pouch together must of come off", "don't worry Rose i'm sure we'll find them if we hurry if we retrace our steps im sure we'll find them " i said enthusiastically. Rose's face brightened again " alright little Sparrow let's go" and we were off.

As we went through the main alleyway i was looking around for a place to hide and then i saw it. A cellar door which had a good view of the alleyway and a piece missing off one of the doors but not the other and the hole was large enough that i could squeeze through. Looking to Rose i saw she was about to head down alley towards the warehouse so i quickly ran toward the cellar as fast and as quiet as i could. Reaching the cellar i squeezed through the hole and hid behind the intact door seeing a small hole in the door i put my eye to it to see outside i saw Rose halfway down the alley but then she turned around in circles looking scared and worried, she knew i was gone now.

Rose ran back through the alley to look for me while calling my name but i stayed silent eventually she went down the alley back out towards the trader. Taking a quick peak out the door hole at the sky to see it getting dark it must've been around 20:00pm by now i decided to wait until it was darker to sneak away. After about 10 minutes of waiting and keeping watch on the alley through the hole, i saw Rose come back through a minute ago and leave through the other end of the alley, deciding now was as good a time as any i was about to try and make a break for it when luckily at the last second i spotted Rose. She was walking back through again and this time she had that mangy mutt from earlier with her i began to panic because i knew that dogs had a really good sense of smell quickly running down the steps of the cellar i steped in a large puddle then i got an idea, knowing that dogs may lose a scent if it goes through water i quickly got my shoes wet and looked around and saw a darkened alcove so i dashed to it and crouched down. After hearing one of the doors being opened and hearing footprints coming down the stairs "Sparrow, Sparrow are you down here" she called out i could hear that dog sniffing around so i just stopped my breathing and went completely still, after what felt like forever Rose said "come on boy let's go back outside and search" to which the dog barked happily and they exited the cellar their footsteps echoing in the distance and i withdrew a heavy breath.

After what must have been at least another 10 minutes i decided i was safe to leave peaking out from the alcove and cautiously walking back up the cellar step's to find the broken door open from where Rose and the dog came in. Looking out i saw a local boy Billy "psst, psst" i wispered Billy turned and saw me and walked over and said " oh hi Sparrow you know Rose is looking for ya", "yes i know" i sighed then a light went on in my head, "hey Billy how would you like to earn a gold piece" i asked getting an idea his face lit up in excitement at the prospect "sure what do i have to do" he asked eagerly. "First off where is Rose now", " she went that way about a minute ago" he pointed towards the warehouse "i heard her tell the dog they were going to search for you by the houses near the graveyard road" he answered. I grinned now was the best time to get out of here "great now i need you to go down to the end of the alley where she went to and keep watch out for her when you see her scream loud enougth so i can hear it, but what ever you do don't tell her you saw me understood" i asked. "Why don't you want her to know where you are" he asked curiously "i just don't okay and if you do tell her then hobbes will take you away while you sleep" i said with a completely serious expression. He looked about ready to pass out at the thought of being taken by those creatures and he nodded his head frantically running off to complete the task completely forgetting about the gold piece. I laughed at how scared he was at that, i was proud of myself for that one and i didn't even have to pay him as i quickly made my way through the alleyway and into the entrance of old town looking around at this place i grew up luckily the guard was gone for the night, the trader was closing up shop as i made my way through the empty street i heard the piercing scream of Billy knowing that he had spotted Rose i dashed as fast as i could through the gates that lead directly to the bowerstone market...


End file.
